BROOKSVILLE, Ky. — Rain stayed away on Memorial Day allowing the 10th Region Quarterfinals at Bracken County Middle School to take place without a hitch. Three district champions plus one runner-up wound up advancing to the region semifinals.

The 40th District champion George Rogers Clark Cardinals take on 37th District champion Bishop Brossart ‘Stangs at 5 p.m. back in Brooksville in the region semifinals. The second game has the defending champion Harrison County Fillies taking on the Campbell County Camels.

The semifinals of the 10th Region Softball Tournament will now be played on Thursday at Bracken County at 5:00 and 7:30 p.m. The championship will be on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. If it is rained out, the games will be moved to Bishop Brossart, and dates and times will remain the same.

Photos will be available at photos.10thRegion.com 48 hours after each game.

Bishop Brossart 8, Bracken County 5

The ‘Stangs may have gotten behind early 3-0 in the top of the first inning against the tournament host Bears, but they stayed the course and held on for the first region tournament win since 2017, which follows the first 37th District crown since 2016.

Brossart (24-11 overall) outhit Bracken County, 14-11. The ‘Stangs pieced together six runs in the bottom of the second and scored two more in the bottom of the third before the Bears (16-21-1) scored twice in the top of the sixth.

“All I know is these girls have worked their tails off,” Brossart head coach Tom Baynum said. “We’ve been working to get to this spot for three years. These kids have been strength conditioning since November. They were hitting (Sunday) night, not mandatory. They just wanted to hit. We’ve hit every single goal we set except for beating Bracken County on April 11 (a 9-8 loss in the All “A” 10th Region Title Game).”

Junior shortstop Kayleigh Stadelmann led Brossart going 2-for-4 with the team’s long extra-base hit with a double and scored twice. She ended an inning with a diving grab near second base as the ‘Stangs committed just one error.

“My diving catch was pretty awesome,” Stadelmann said. “An unexpected play definitely gets everybody excited. Seeing my pitcher hyped up really helped because she threw the whole game and having someone help them out on defense is crucial.”

Junior left fielder Avery Wietholter, junior lead off center fielder Sophie Schultz, Stadelmann, senior first baseman Rachel Shewmaker and sophomore third baseman Ella Walerius all went 2-for-4 for Brossart. Wietholter also scored twice with junior catcher Leah Robinson tallying a team-high two runs batted in. Brossart scored one unearned run off two Bracken County errors.

“This was definitely a revenge game for us (after Bracken County beat Brossart, 9-8 on April 11 in the 10th Region All “A” Title Game),” Wietholter said. “We all just realized that we’re going to have to finish this game out as a team and we all just put out A games together.”

Junior Anna Bezold (20-6) hit the milestone win with the complete game. Bezold walked just four and allowed just three earned runs.

Sophomore shortstop Kyndall Johnson, junior center fielder Jenna Colvin, eighth grade right fielder Presley Johnson and junior catcher Macy Beckett had two hits each for Bears with Colvin scoring twice. Junior Addyson Tucker (6-10) took the loss pitching two-plus innings before junior Rees Hargett finished the game.

George Rogers Clark 10, Pendleton County 9

The Cardinals (34-5) entered the tournament with most wins out of the eight in the field, but had to claw back in the bottom of the seventh down 9-6. Down two with two out, junior second baseman Arabella Guinn doubled to center field to score freshman shortstop Lauren Fugate to make it 9-8 Pendleton County. That’s when senior catcher Addison Mathews, who moved in from Lubbock, Texas over last summer, laid down a bunt single and an errant throw allowed Guinn to score to tie the game.

“I knew if my coach (Matt Puckett) trusts me to get the bunt down, I could do it, move the runner and get on base because of my speed,” Mathews said. “Everyone was starting to get down on themselves. I just kept saying this is not the end. We’ve come back before.”

Pendleton County (19-12) elected to walk junior pitcher Lilliana Hill to put the force at third in play and bring up freshman center fielder Zyniia Tichenor. However, the Cardinals pulled off a double steal then Tichenor laid down another bunt. She beat out the throw to first for the single, allowing Mathews to score the game-winning run.

“A lot was going through my mind once they walked Lilli,” Tichenor said. “I didn’t know I was going to have another at-bat. Coach Puckett told us we’re going to extra innings to win it, but I still wanted to score that final run to get it over with.”

George Rogers Clark saw Hill (14-2) pitch a complete game to earn the win. She struck out five, walked three and allowed eight earned runs. The Cardinals committed just one error behind her.

The Cardinals outhit the Cats, 15-8, but Pendleton County overcame four errors to build the three-run lead. Tichenor led the Cardinals going 3-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored. Guinn had two doubles and scored twice with Mathews also recording two hits and scoring twice. Freshman left fielder Jayda Grigsby added a home run and double with junior third baseman Jordyn Abner adding a solo home run.

“I think we knew going into this year, we had a special team,” Puckett said. “I think in the past, we’ve had situations where losing was okay. Everybody is going to lose. We know that. But We got the mentality that we’re out to win every game and if somebody is better than us, make them prove it and (Monday) they almost did prove it. But in the end, we got the W. That shows a lot of heart and determination.”

Junior Hannah Spaulding (10-12) took the loss in the complete game. She struck out four and walked five.

The leadoff and second hitters for Pendleton County in sophomore shortstop Kinly Cooper and sophomore shortstop Jessa Gerhardstein had two hits, including one double each. Gerhardstein added a home run for three RBI and three runs scored.

Harrison County 13, Montgomery County 2 (Five innings)

The Fillies (32-6), winners of three of the last four region tournaments, rolled to the win scoring at least three runs in all four innings.

Things started on defense with senior pitcher Bella Persinger (16-3) pitched another gem striking out four while allowing just four walks and two earned runs. The Fillies that includes a lot of experience such as fifth-year senior starting second baseman Lexie Highlander played error-free defense behind her.

Late in the game, Harrison County had the chance to tag a runner caught in between first and second out, but she made it to second. However, the Fillies made up for it by throwing out a runner at second to finish the game.

“It means a lot because we have to make the routine plays to get the outs,” Highlander said. “It’s important (to have a short memory after mistakes) because you can’t hang your head. You have to pick it up and go on. You just have to be as positive as you can be.”

Harrison County outhit Montgomery County, 16-5. Senior first baseman Shyanne Ross and senior shortstop Emma Hamm led the Fillies both going 3-for-4. Ross had two home runs for five RBI and three runs scored swiping nine total bases with Hamm tripling and socking a home run. Freshman clean-up third baseman Aleigha Newby hit Harrison County’s other home run going 2-for-3 with three RBI. Bella Persinger, freshman left fielder Jenny White and freshman center fielder Karsyn Bennett also had two hits each.

“I felt good coming in here. We’ve been kind of rolling a bit. I was hoping we’d have a game where our bats would catch fire,” Harrison County head coach Chad Persinger said. “Some people that maybe hadn’t been hitting well lately, starting hitting well. If we get our bats going and we get several people feeling good at the plate, we’ll be hard to beat, especially with the pitching staff that we have. We’re going to hold them down to just a few runs if that. I’m really happy with how we came out with our attitudes. We were very focused fromt he first pitch to the last.”

Sophomore right fielder Baylee Montgomery led the Indians (17-19) at the plate going 2-for-3 with a double. Sophomore Kinley Auxier hit a solo home run to go with two walks with eighth grade flex player Kennedy Gillum adding a double.

Campbell County 17, Mason County (Six innings)

The Camels (22-8) made it back to the region semifinals for the fourth straight season, exploding for seven runs in the top of the fourth and sealing it with four in the top of the sixth. The game started about one hour, 20 minutes later than the expected 8 p.m. start and finished after 11 p.m. However, the Campbell County administration let them come in at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“It’s a lot. We even came earlier to watch the game before ours,” Campbell County veteran head coach Sandi Kitchen said. “It’s very late. (Tuesday night) being the late game helps us. I’m generally in bed by now.”

Campbell County outhit Mason County, 20-9 with seven hitters recording multi-hit games. Senior shortstop Samantha Perry, senior pitcher Hope Hamilton, senior catcher Lilly Phirman and senior second baseman Emma Schultz had three each with senior left fielder Faith Whitford, senior third baseman Mallory Fleckenstein and junior right fielder Addison Propes recording two each. Schultz doubled and drove in four with Hamilton hitting her 12th home run this year on the way to driving in two and scoring twice. Fleckenstein also drove in four and Propes had three RBI.

“In games we struggle to hit, I feel like everyone just get down,” Phirman said. “But once person hits the ball, the total attitude in the dugout changes 360 (degrees). I feel like that really showed compared to the last game that we played, and we didn’t give up.”

Hamilton (14-4) earned the win pitching into the fifth inning, striking out three and walking two. Sophomore Elexis Gugel finished the game striking out three.

“I’ve really focused on my curve ball this year,” Hamilton said. “That’s been my go-to pitch. Then my change-up was working. The batter I hit was a change-up. It kind of just slipped coming out of my hand. I think keeping them off-balance really helped.”

Junior shortstop Kylah Turner and junior second baseman Reagan Workman had two hits each for the Royals (16-18). Turner doubled and drove in two with junior pitcher Delana Rigg and junior third baseman Bentley Shepherd also doubling.